Knock-down box construction



Jan. 5, 1965 Filed Feb. 7, 1963 G. G. BERGH ETAL KNOCK-DOWN BOXCONSTRUCTION S Sheets-Sheet l 32 34 32 34 4QE; J 1

INVENTORS GEORGE G. BERGH ROBERT G. BERGH ATTORNEYS 1965 G. e. BERGHETAL 3,164,234

KNOCK-DOWN BOX CONSTRUCTION Filed Feb. 7, 1963 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIGSINVENTORS GEORGE G. BERGH ROBERT G. BERGH BY MpMAW ATTORNEYS Jan. 5,1965 G. ca. BERGH ETAL KNOCK-DOWN BOX CONSTRUCTION 3- Sheets-Sheet 5Filed Feb. 7, 1963 FIG. IO

FIG. l2

INVENTORS GEORGE G. BERGH ROBERT G, BERGH ATTORNEYS United States PatentCfifice 3.164284 Patented Jan. 5, T965 7 3,164,284 KNOCK-DGWN BGXCONSTRUCTION George G. Eergh and Robert G. Bergh, North Attleboro, Mass,assignors to' BerglrBros. (10., Inc, North Attire-'- horo, Mass, acorporation of Massachusetts- Filed Feb. 7, 1963, .Ser. No. 257,042 2Claims. (Cl. 2204) This invention relates to containers used for theshipment, storage and display of various products and more particularly,to an improved knock-down box construction capable of being shipped in adisassembled state and subsequently assembled without the need of toolsimmediately prior to its intended use.

The knock-down feature of a box construction is extremely desirablesince it enables a manufacturer to reduce space requirements whenshipping boxes to customers.

Although box construction embodying knock-down features have beendeveloped in the past, several major problems have remained unsolved.

For example, the knock-down box constructions presently in use are notcapable of being assembled to form boxes of varying sizes andconfigurations following the initial fabrication of their componentparts. Consequently, a manufacturer must frequently re-tool when ordersare received for boxes of sizes and shapes other than those capable ofbeing assembled with components presently in stock.

In addition, a bending operation is usually required at the assemblystage of existing knock-down box constructions. Since bendingwill oftencrack or mar painted or coated' surfaces, final exterior finishing ofbox components by the manufacturer prior to shipment to customers ismade impractical and must be done by the customer following assembly.

Furthermore, knock-down box assemblies presently in use usually providefor the positive attachment of the bottom and top panels to the wallmembers. Several undesirable results flow from thisfeature ofconstruction. Once assembled, the box cannot be later knocked down forstorage. In addition, any expansion or contraction of the bottom and toppanels caused by environmental changes in moisture and temperature willproduce distortion and warping of all box components.

Accordingly, a primary object of the present invention isto provide aknock-down box construction having extreme flexibility of size andconfiguration at the assembly stage.

Another object of this invention is to provide a box capable ofwithstanding warping and distortion during environmental moisture andtemperature changes.

A further object of this invention is to avoid the necessity of bendingbox components during the process of assembly, thereby enabling themanufacturer to" completely pro-finish each box component prior toshipment. Anotherobject of this invention is to provide a simple andinexpensive method of covering the unfinished edges of assembled boxcomponents. and to provide a box capable of being constructed of variousmaterials in combination, thereby increasing the manufacturers abilityto produce a more attractive box without a corresponding increase inexpenditures oftime and money.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will become moreapparent as the description proceeds with the aid. of the accompanyingdrawings in which: i

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a hinged box having bottom and coverportions;

FIG. 2 is a view in perspective of a typical wall member;

tion.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line 33 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line 4-4 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing the positional relationship of maleand female ends of two wall members immediately prior to the endengagement thereof.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing the positional relationship of maleand female ends of two wall members following the initial engagementthereof but immediately prior to their subsequent transversedisplacement to a locked position.

FIG. 7 is a view in perspective showing the positional relationship ofmale and female ends of two wall sections in a locked position.

FIG. 8 is a sectional view taken along line 8-8 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 9 is a partial sectional view taken along lines 9 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 10 is a partial sectional View illustrating the range of angulardisplacement made possible subsequent to the locked end engagement oftwo wall members.

FIG. 11 is a view of a wall member bent to form a rounded cornerelement.

FIG. 12 is a view in perspective illustrating the use of standard wallsections in the construction of an irregularly shaped box.

Reference will now be made to FIG. 1 wherein 10 gen erally indicates atypical box construction containing the embodiments of the inventionchosen for purposes of disclosure. 1

Box 10 is comprised of a bottom portion 12 pivotally secured to a coverportion 14 by hinges 16. Interlocking latch members 18 and 20 arelocated on the forward wall sections 22 and 24 of cover and bottomportions 12 and 14 respectively in order to provide a means of securelymaintaining the box in a closed position.

The various cornoponents of box 10 and its method of assembly Willnow bedescribed. An appropriately formed die is used to stamp wall members 26indicated typically in FIG. 2. Although the wall members'chosen forpurposes of disclosure are stamped from a thin strip of light-weightcorrosion resistant sheet metal, it should be understood that othermaterials may be substituted without departing from the scope of thepresent inven- In'addition, it should. be understood that the individualwall members can be fabricated or" any desired 7 length in order toproduce boxes of varying shapes and configurations, as will be morespecifically discussed in subsequent parts of the description.

Beginning at the male end, the wall member 26 is provided with upwardlydisposed tongue segments 28 and 36. As shown in FIG. 3, tongue segments28 and 30 are of a trapezoidal configuration having the two non-parallelsides 32 and 34 of equal length. A locking slot 36 is provided along thebase line of each tongue segment extending inwardly for a limiteddistance towards the center thereof. Each wall member 26 is furtherprovided with upper and lower long-itudinm flanges 38 and 4-9 extendingupwardly from the plane of the wall surface as shown in FIG. 2 andconsequently inwardly when incorporated in an assembled box asillustrated in FIG. 1. The flanges are bevelled at a 45 angle at theirextremities as at 44 in order to permit end engagement of the wallmembers during assembly of the bottom or cover portions.

Wall member 26 terminates at the opposite extremity A bling wallsections by placing them in locked end engagement will now be described.FIG. illustrates the male end section 26a of one wall member and thefemale end section 26b of another wall member held in angular spacedrelationship. As can be seen in this figure, the receiving slots 48 and50 are oppositely disposed to tongue segments 28 and 36 although theupper and lower longitudinal flanges 38 and. 4b of each Wall member arenot yet inproper vertical alignment. FIG. 6 is an illustration of thenext step in placing the wall sections in locked engagement whereintongue segments 28 and 3d are inserted into receiving slots 48 and 50.It becomes important at this point to note that the wall sections arestill not in locked end engagement and may be pulled apart. Furthermore,they have not yet been properly aligned as can be seen by the verticaldistance 54 and 56 between the upper and lower flanges 38 and 4d of eachwall member.

, FIG. '7 is an illustration of the final locking step wherein thefemale end 26b has been displaced downwardly with respect to male end26a in a direction normal to the longitudinal axis of both wall members.This in turn has caused the inner end edges 58 and 60 (see FIG. 4) ofreceiving slots 48 and 50 to be positively engaged within locking slots36, thereby preventing the possibility of subsequent disengagement ofthe wall members by simply pulling them apart.

In order to disassemble the wall members for subsequent storage, theabove-mentioned procedure is simply reversed. Inner end edges 53 and 60of receiving slots 48 and 51) are disengaged from locking slots 36 bytransversely displacing the wall members in the opposite direction.Following this step, the Wall members are easily pulled apart.

As can be seen in FIG. 10, following the locked end engagement of twowall members, they may be angularly displaced through any selected anglefrom 90 to 180. In addition, as previously stated, the wall sections maybe fabricated of any desired length. Consequenty, a user is providedwith optimum flexibility by simply combining wall members of equal andvarying length to produce boxes having unlimited variations in size andconfiguration. FIG. 12 is one illustration of such a variation whereinthe user has combined Wall sections of different lengths and hasutilized the abovementioned range of angular displacement of the wallmembers to produce a six-sided box. In addition, two completelyassembled wall sections have been combined and spot welded as at 62 toproduce a box of greater depth. Thus it can be seen that a manufacturermay utilize wall members presently in stock to produce stronglight-weight boxes of greatly varying size and shape without resortingto expensive and time-consuming retooling operations.

Another advantage inherent in this type of wall construction is theability to subsequently assemble boxes Without the necessity of bendingwall members. In this manner, the boxes may be easily shipped in adisassembled state and subsequently assembled by hand without the needof expensive jigs and fixtures. Furthermore, since the surfaces of thewall members will not be distorted, scratched or marred by subsequentbending, they may be painted or coated by electrolysis and fitted withhandles and other ornamentations at the manufacturing stage and need notbe res-finished by the user subsequent to the process of assembly.

The method of assembling the remainder of the box components will now bedescribed. Following the assembly of the individual wall members 26, abottom member 64 is positioned on the lower inwardly disposed flanges40. The peripheral dimensions of bottom member 64 will be governed bythe number and lengths of side members 26 used in assembling the sidesof the box, and its configuration will in turn govern, strengthen andstabilize the over-all shape of the completely assembled box.

As can be seen in FIG. 8, bottom member 64 is held against lower flanges40 by a plurality of side filler pieces 66 tightly wedged between theupper edge of bottom member 64 and the lower surfaces of inwardlyextending upper flanges 38.

A space 68 is provided between the outer edges of bottom member 64 andthe inner surfaces of side members 26. Several important advantages flowfrom this particular type of construction. Since the bottom member 64 isfrictionally engaged between the lower adges of filler pieces 66 and thelower flanges 40 and not positively pinned or glued, its expansion andcontraction caused by environmental changes of temperature or moistureare not hindered. The bottom member 64 may expand freely into space 68or contract by simply pulling further away from the wall members. Inthis manner, distortion of the side Walls and warping of the bottommember is prevented, resulting in the fabrication of a more satisfactorybox. In addition, filler pieces 66 act to prevent any relativetransverse motion of the side members 26 at the corners. In this manner,accidental dislocation of the side members is prevented.

Secondly, the channel construction provided by the upper and lowerflanges 38 and 4t) greatly facilitates the task of finishing the innersurfaces of a box intended for display purposes. Boxes presently in useare restricted as to the materials that may be used in theirconstruction. For example, the inner surface of boxes presently beingmanufactured could not easily be lined with material such as mirrors orveneered woods since the exposed edges of these materials are raw andunfinished. Great care and considerable expense would be necessitated incovering these exposed edges, thereby considerably increasing the costof the finished box.

However, with a box construction as described in the present invention,no such material limitations are prescut. The channel constructionprovided by upper and lower flanges 38 and 40 provide an easy method ofcovering the unifinished edges of filler pieces 66 and bottom member 64.The edges of bottom member 64 are hidden by the inner surfaces of wallmembers 26 and the edges of filler pieces 66 are hidden by bottom member64 and the inwardly extending upper flanges 38. Thus it can be seen thatmaterials capable of being cut and inexpensively finished may be easilyincorporated into the box construction presently being described withoutundue expenditures of time and effort.

Furthermore, the positioning of filler pieces 66 within the wall members26 adds considerably to the over-all strength of the completelyassembled box. The added thickness enables the boxes to be piled uponone another without the danger of having the lower boxes collapse ortelescope. Consequently, through the use of the above-mentionedconstruction, more attractive boxes of lighter weight and greaterstrength can be produced without the need to resort to expensive andtime-consuming production techniques.

Referring now to FIG. 9, the hinge assembly of the box chosen forpurposes of disclosure will now be described. In conventional woodenboxes now being used, the side walls are of a considerable thickness.Consequently, special provisions must be made in order to provide for ahinged cover portion. For example, if a conventional hinge is used, itspintle will be located on the inner edges of the wall members.Therefore, the outer edges must of necessity be bevelled in order topermit the cover portion to open without creating a wedging action. Thisin turn results in an unsightly outer groove when the box is closed. Inorder to avoid this groove, some conventional boxes employ specialoffset hinges. The use of these special hinges require the cutting ofrecesses in the wall members and the subsequent use of special longerand more expensive C-springs.

As can be readily seen in FIG. 9, a box constructed according to thepresent invention successfully avoids the above-mentioned hingedifl'iculties. Because wall members 26 have relatively little thicknessprior to the insertion of filler pieces 26, the hinge pintle 70 of aconventional hinge 16 can be placed in substantial alignment with theouter edges of the wall member by simply cutting away a portion of upperflanges 38. In this manner, the cover portion can be fully opened andlaid fiat without the necessity of bevelling the outer edges of the box,thereby avoiding the need of unsightly outer grooves. In addition, byusing standard hinges, the need of special C-springs is avoided and thestandard shorter and less expensive springs 72 can be used. Followingthe attachment of the hinges 16, filler pieces 66 can then be inserted,thereby completely covering the details of construction as can be seenin FIG. 1.

FIG. 11 is a further illustration of the varied box configurations thatmay be obtained through the use of standard wall sections. By bending awall section through any selected angle, rounded corner elements 72 canbe fabricated and used in combination with straight wall sections 26.

Other advantages made possible through the use of the box constructionchosen for purposes of disclosure include a greatly improved method offabricating perfectly matching cover and bottom portions. Whenfabricating expensive high-quality wooden boxes, in order to insureperfect edge alignment of both bottom and cover portions when the box isin a closed position, it is now necessary to first fabricate a fullyenclosed onepiece box and then to saw it into two matching bottom andcover portions.

However, since wall sections 26 of constant dimensions can be easilyproduced through a conventional stamping process, and since bottom andtop members can be easily held together and shaped as one piece, theneed for completely fabricating a one-piece box and subsequently cuttingit in two has been avoided. As previously mentioned, since theconfiguration of the bottom and top members will govern, strengthen andstabilize the over-all shape of the completely assembled box, care needonly be taken in the initial shaping of these two pieces, therebyenabling subsequent separate assembly of bottom and cover portions.

It is our intention to cover all changes and modifications of theexample of the invention herein chosen for purposes of disclosure whichdo not constitute departures from the spirit and scope of the invention.

We claim:

1. A knock-down box construction comprising the combination of: aplurality of prefinished wall members having upper and lower flangesextending inwardly from 5 the upper and lower edges thereof; means forinterconnecting said wall members to provide a continuous side wallenclosure for said box; a bottom member subject to dimensional changescaused by variations in environmental conditions positioned within saidwall enclosure and supported by said lower flanges, the peripheral edgeof said bottom member spaced from the inner surface of said wallenclosure; and means for wedging said bottom member downwardly againstsaid lower flanges while permitting free expansion and contractionthereof.

2. A knock-down box combination comprising at least three wall membersof prefinished sheet metal having longitudinal upper and lower flangesintegral with the I upper and lower edges of said wall members, saidflanges extending inwardly in a direction normal to the plane of eachsaid wall members, each said wall members provided at one extremity withan end lip bent inwardly along a line perpendicular to said upper andlower longitudinal flanges and containing narrow receiving slotspositioned along said line, the other extremity of said wall membersprovided with inwardly disposed tongue segments, each said tonguesegments provided with a locking slot extending inwardly along the basethereof to a point intermediate the extremities of said base in orderthat when the tongue segments of one said wall member are inserted intothe receiving slots of another said wall member and transverselydisplaced, the inner edges of said receiving slots will be engaged bysaid locking slots and said wall members placed in interlockedrelationship with their upper and lower flanges in alignment, a bottommember subject to dimensional changes caused by variations inenvironmental conditions positioned on said inwardly disposed lowerlongitudinal flanges, the peripheral edge of said bottom member spacedfrom said Wall members, and a plurality of filler pieces tightlypositioned between said bottom member and said inwardly disposed upperlongitudinal flanges to strengthen said wall members and preventsubsequent transverse displacement in a reverse direction thereof, saidbottom member frictionally held in place between said lower flanges andthe bottom edges of said filler pieces in a yielding manner in order topermit expansion and contraction thereof without Warping.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS584,313 Adams June 15, 1897 886,530 Mestemacher May 5, 1908 2,093,926Pratt Sept. 21, 1937 2,605,925 Morin Aug. 5, 1952 2,611,460 Nash Sept.23, 1952

1. A KNOCK-DOWN BOX CONSTRUCTION COMPRISING THE COMBINATION OF: APLURALITY OF PREFINISHED WALL MEMBERS HAVING UPPER AND LOWER FLANGESEXTENDING INWARDLY FROM THE UPPER AND LOWER EDGES THEREOF; MEANS FORINTERCONNECTING SAID WALL MEMBERS TO PROVIDE A CONTINUOUS SIDE WALLENCLOSURE FOR SAID BOX; A BOTTOM MEMBER SUBJECT TO DIMENSIONAL CHANGESCAUSED BY VARIATIONS IN ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS POSITIONED WITHIN AIDWALL ENCLOSURE AND SUPPORTED BY SAID LOWER FLANGES, THE PERIPHERAL EDGEOF SAID BOTTOM MEMBER SPACED FROM THE INNER SURFACE OF SAID WALLENCLOSURE; AND MEANS FOR WEDGING SAID BOTTOM MEMBER DOWNWARDLY AGAINSTSAID LOWER FLANGES WHILE PERMITTING FREE EXPANSION AND CONSTRACTIONTHEREOF.